Selling Brut de Fabergé With Leonard Cohen’s “I’m Your Man”

Many fans still hold that Leonard Cohen doesn’t allow his work to be used in commercials. Roman Gavrilin aka Hermitage Prisoner, however, has put together a collection of TV advertisements using Cohen’s music (and sometimes Cohen in person) that challenges this shibboleth.

Note: In March 2010, I first published the content of “Indifference: Leonard Cohen’s Cologne Concept,” a post featuring a fake ad for a fragrance based on a joke Leonard once made about his creating own cologne to be called “Indifference,” and its slogan was going to be “I don’t give a shit what happens,” Notwithstanding the notion of “based on a joke” and Leonard’s own assessment of the post as “hilarious,” some fans criticized the entry, claiming that “Leonard Cohen would never advertise for a cologne or perfume.” Well, read on.

While most of the videos Roman has assembled promote Cohen’s own work (e.g., his album releases or his tours), I am most taken with ads for other products. Ongoing readers may recall the South Korean Ramen TV Ad featuring Cohen’s I’m Your Man. Today’s selection uses that same song in a more sophisticated, more seductive, equally commercial sales pitch, originally broadcast in 1999 in France, for a fragrance. The ad is entitled Brute de Fabergé : Duel.

I have included a few screen captures to provide a sense of the 30 second sales pitch, which features a man and woman thrusting and parrying through a series of violent, provocative, sexy scenes, all set against the soundtrack of Leonard Cohen singing “I’m Your Man.”

The ad opens with the carefully selected line “If you want another kind of lover, I’ll …. ” and closes on the money shot with “I’m your man.”

Video: Leonard Cohen – Brut de Fabergé

I am republishing selected posts from my former Leonard Cohen site, Cohencentric, here on AllanShowalter.com (these posts can be found at Leonard Cohen). This entry was originally posted. Aug 9, 2011 at 1HeckOfAGuy.com